Reducing food waste is one of the resource efficiency corner stones at Leijona Catering. Our systematic work in food waste reduction began in 2017. We measure monthly average food waste in grams per customer and each canteen and restaurant have their own target.
Loss in the different stages of the food system is a big challenge for its environmental impacts and equally so from the perspective of economical efficiency. Every one of us can in our own job and everyday duties help in reducing it. The food served in the canteens and restaurants run by Leijona Catering amounts to over ten per cent of all public spending in food services in Finland. So, in our operational scale even a seemingly minuscule amount per customer quickly grows into enormous proportions: for example, one 15-gram meatball per customer that goes into bio waste equals 285 tons – about nine long-distance freight trucks – of food waste in a year!
At Leijona Catering we maintain food waste control in every step of the order-supply-chain. With conscious measures we have the opportunity to reduce loss in the entire chain whether the ingredients or prepared food is still at our supplier, in transport or already delivered to our customer. Our restaurant/canteen-specific metric covers food waste caused in the preparation, storing, and serving of the food but not post-customer food waste.
Only a part of the food served by Leijona Catering is eaten in the restaurants and canteens. Out on the field managing the food waste is more complicated than indoors; therefore, this process has its own specific improvement project.
Over 90 per cent of the food waste and other bio waste from our operations is channeled to biogas production. Biogas is used in Finland as a very low-emission fuel especially used by heavy traffic.
Leijona Catering collaborates with the Finnish Natural Resources Institute (LUKE). Their research paper published in June 2021, on food waste in Finland reports that overall, the food waste from the entire food chain amounts to approx. 360 million kilos annually. There are three main areas where food waste happens: in homes approx. 34 %, in the food industry approx. 23 %, and in food services approx. 17 % of the Finnish total.